ress groans with daily productions, which, in
point of boldness, make an Englishman stare, who hitherto has thought
himself the boldest of men. A complete revolution in this government,
has, within the space of two years (for it began with the _Notables_
of 1787), been effected merely by the force of public opinion, aided,
indeed, by the want of money, which the dissipations of the court had
brought on. And this revolution has not cost a single life, unless we
charge to it a little riot lately in Bretagne, which began about the
price of bread, became afterwards political, and ended in the loss of
four or five lives. The assembly of the States General begins the 27th
of April. The representation of the people will be perfect. But they
will be alloyed by an equal number of nobility and clergy. The first
great question they will have to decide, will be, whether they shall
vote by orders or persons. And I have hopes, that the majority of the
Nobles are already disposed to join the _Tiers-Etat_, in deciding
that the vote shall be by persons. This is the opinion _a la mode_ at
present, and mode has acted a wonderful part in the present instance.
All the handsome young women, for example, are for the _Tiers-Etat_ and
this is an army more powerful in France, than the two hundred thousand
men of the King. Add to this, that the court itself is for the
_Tiers-Etat_, as the only agent which can relieve their wants: not by
giving money themselves (they are squeezed to the last drop), but by
pressing it from the non-contributing orders. The King stands engaged
to pretend no more to the power of laying, continuing, or appropriating
taxes; to call the States General periodically; to submit _lettres de
cachet_ to legal restrictions; to consent to freedom of the press; and
that all this shall be fixed by a fundamental constitution, which
shall bind his successors. He has not offered a participation in the
legislature, but it will surely be insisted on. The public mind is
so ripened on all these subjects, that there seems to be now but one
opinion. The clergy, indeed, think separately, and the old men among the
Nobles: but their voice is suppressed by the general one of the
nation. The writings published on this occasion are, some of them, very
valuable; because, unfettered by the prejudices under which the English
labor, they give a full scope to reason, and strike out truths, as
yet unperceived and unacknowledged on the other side the cha